Method and apparatus for processing facsimile transmissions

Apparatus for use in a telephone network for completing connections carrying facsimile information to a destination, comprising:

• means for connecting a facsimile transmission carrying said facsimile information to a facsimile processor;
• means in said facsimile processor for combining said facsimile information with a prestored graphical advertisement into a new combined facsimile transmission;
• and
• means for transmitting said new combined facsimile transmission to said destination.

Apparatus for use in a telephone network for completing a connection carrying one or more sheets of facsimile information, each of said sheets being for visual presentation or storage at the receiving end of said connection, comprising:

• means for intercepting at least one of said sheets of facsimile information;
• means for incorporating supplemental information together with information derived from a portion of said at least one of said sheets of facsimile information to form a supplemented sheet of facsimile information;
• and
• means for transmitting said supplemented sheet of facsimile information to said receiving end of said connection in lieu of said received one or more sheets of facsimile information.

Apparatus for use in completing a connection carrying one or more sheets of facsimile information, each of said sheets being for visual presentation at the receiving end of said connection, comprising:

• means for receiving at least one of said sheets of facsimile information;
• means for selecting an advertisement from a database of available graphical/textual advertisements;
• means for incorporating said selected advertisement together with information derived from a portion of said at least one of said sheets of facsimile information and supplying the result as an output;
• and
• means for transmitting the output of said means for incorporating for display or printout at a receiver.

A method for use in a telephone network for completing a connection carrying one or more sheets of facsimile information, each of said sheets being for visual presentation or storage at the receiving end of said connection, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving at least one of said sheets of facsimile information;
• incorporating an advertisement together with information derived from a portion of said at least one of said sheets of facsimile information to form a sheet of combined facsimile information and advertisement;
• and
• transmitting said combined sheet of facsimile information and advertisement to said receiving end of said connection in lieu of said received one or more sheets of facsimile information.

A method for processing a facsimile connection in a telephone network comprising the steps of:

• receiving a facsimile transmission from a facsimile capable source of a user, said facsimile transmission containing at least one sheet of user facsimile information representing a graphical image;
• selecting an advertisement from a plurality of available advertisements, said advertisement being an image;
• scaling said selected advertisement to a resolution matching that of said graphical image represented by said user's facsimile information;
• locating available white space in said graphical image represented by said user's facsimile information into which said selected advertisement fits;
• placing said advertisement into said located white space to form a combined image;
• and
• transmitting a facsimile representation of said combined image to a facsimile capable receiver.